Discover our squad for Saturday's @Il_Lombardia - the final Monument of the season: soudal-quickstepteam.com/en/news/6759/s… Photo: @GettySport
Remco Evenepoel confirmed for Lombardia battle against Pogacar - "We aren’t starting as the main favourites"
CyclingWednesday, 09 October 2024 at 13:20
Remco Evenepoel is returning to Il Lombardia. In 2020 he crashed into a ravine and suffered career-threatening injuries, and in 2021 he was only 19th. Three years later he returns to be a headliner in the battle against Tadej Pogacar, and will end his season in the Italian monument.
Although it must be said that expectations aren't the highest. Although at the World Championships he showed strong form on both events, since making the trip to Italy he has struggled. He abandoned the Giro dell'Emilia with an eye problem but at the Coppa Bernocchi he lacked the legs to make the difference. Like Primoz Roglic, it seems like both have severely struggled with the wet and cold conditions - whilst Pogacar thrives in them. The World Champion's armour looks impenetrable into Saturday but Evenepoel is one of the few who can also hope for victory.
“It goes without saying that on Saturday we’ll take on one of the toughest races of the season. The eight climbs on the course will gradually whittle down the peloton, and the presence of Sormano – the longest ascent of the day – inside the last 60 kilometers is sure to light up the race," team DS Davide Bramati anticipated. "We aren’t starting as the main favourites, but we are determined to do a good race, show the Wolfpack spirit and score a solid result as we bring down the curtain over our European season”.
Quick-Step is having a strong lineup however including Mattia Cattaneo who has been on a tremendous run of form, William Lecerf Junior who won the under-23 race last year, Ilan van Wilder who was Tre Valli Varesine's winner last year, Mauri Vansevenant who recently won at the Tour de Luxemoburg and local rider Fausto Masnada who was second to Pogacar in 2021. Pieter Serry concludes the lineup.
Soudal - Quick-Step for Il Lombardia:
Remco Evenepoel
Mattia Cattaneo
William Junior Lecerf
Fausto Masnada
Pieter Serry
Ilan Van Wilder
Mauri Vansevenant
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Nov 05, 13:04
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- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024
- I'm loving the level of competition and the compositions of teams in 2025. Sure Pogi had an historic 2024. Slate is clean in 2025. And lots of great athletes--MvdP, Vingo, Primoz, Remco, Marc Hircshi, Pidcock, Carlos Rodriquez--and strong teams want to win. I think Pogi will have another great season in 2025. But I think we will talk about others having great seasons too. Who? I don't know. I'll watch the classics and tours and will root for spirited competition.pidginbil24-12-2024
- Sorry but 50€ a day for an international hotel was already a joke 6 years ago. Combined with the fact a lot of them are international chains, this is just capitalism as the West has taught. I think the business term used now is « dynamic pricing « and it happens everywhere. Maybe some will now reflect on how 3rd world delegations are discriminated by prices when they have always had to travel to meetings, hence distorting results and silverware. We will also still have to see how things work out visa-wise, how many participants will be refused as in Glasgow and on what basis? As regards Pog, the coach had better put in place a strategy to avoid his boycotting for personal political reasons, that’s at least as big a problem as logistics.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- By the way AI can only answer what it knows and there are many things it doesn’t and will never know.Mistermaumau24-12-2024